Baku, Azerbaijan, May 20
By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:
The first European Games in Baku will promote recognition of Azerbaijan in Europe and the whole world, Polish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Marek Calka said.
"Tourists, who will come to Azerbaijan, will be able to see your beautiful country with their own eyes, get acquainted with its history, culture and achievements," Calka told Trend. "The idea is that European Games will boost the flow of people visiting Azerbaijan."
The diplomat believes that tourism is the most accessible form of popularization of a country like Azerbaijan in the world.
He said that tourists, who visited Azerbaijan, will promote the country abroad themselves.
"Given the Azerbaijani hospitality, this will be easy enough to do," said the diplomat.
Calka said that he first visited Baku in the first half of the 1990's.
"Over the past years, the city has changed and become more beautiful," he said. "Every major sporting event surely costs a lot of money and effort. However, the objects that will be built, will be preserved [for the future]. Roads, buildings and hotels will be also preserved."
"In 2012, Poland hosted the UEFA European Championship and the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championships in 2014," he said. "Highways, airports, stadiums were constructed, railway stations upgraded and thousands of kilometers of railways modernized. All this will serve us for many years. The same thing will happen in Azerbaijan as well."
The result of the work done in Poland was the growth of tourism in the country in the following years, according to him. "I wish the same would happen in Azerbaijan," said Calka.
The diplomat said that about 200 Polish athletes, sports minister and chairman of the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOL) will arrive in Baku for the European Games.
He said that it is planned to hold the day of Poland June 13 in Baku.
"Baku will host a concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra by a Polish conductor, two exhibitions will be held, one of which will be devoted to contemporary Polish culture, and the other to the photogram of buildings constructed by Polish architects in Baku," he said. "We will promote Polish cuisine, hold our fashion show."
Baku 2015 is the first-ever European Games, an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent that will take place on June 12-28, 2015.
There will be a total of 20 sports at Baku 2015: 16 Olympic sports and four non-Olympic sports. More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will be representing their nations over 17 days of competition.
Baku was awarded the games by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) in December 2012.
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